Game Over!
by LukeMaster07
Summary: A newly trained group of marines are sent on their first mission to the infamous planet LV 426 to search for and rescue a government doctor. What they find, however, is a colony of aliens. The soldiers are forced into a fight to survive against an enemy that they have never fought before. How will these newbies survive against the "monsters", save the doctor, and make it out alive?
1. Chapter 1

Four humanoids stood in a quiet field as the bright summer sun warmed them. A slight breeze ran through, their clothing ruffling. Two humans stood next together, another leaned against a nearby tree. One held a pulse rifle.

"Oh come on Leon, it's not that hard." The solider leaning against the tree, Chris, said.

"And this is coming from the guy that can hit anything within two hundred meters." I muttered.

Chris laughed. "True. How about this; if you beat it, I'll buy you a beer."

I looked at him skeptically. "You know I don't drink."

He smiled. "So?"

I shook my head. "I swear you're going to be the death of me." I said as I looked down the iron sights of the pulse rifle. I took a few breaths to steady my nerves.

"Come on; you graduated top of your class for precision. Christ on crutches, I'm going to die of old age." Chris moaned, leaning against the tree.

"Baxton shut the hell up." The third solider said. Chris held his hands up in mock surrender and shook his head.

I looked at him and smiled. "Thanks Tom." I whispered.

"No problem, never say no for a chance to bust Chris's balls." Tom whispered back with a slight smile.

I laughed and looked down the sights again. The fourth humanoid was a target dummy and stood on two legs. It was fitted in the standard USCM outfit, a loose navy green shirt and cameo pants. It wore thick brown boots that made a rather annoying squishing noise whenever it walked. The target dummy was basically a non-humanistic version of an android, with highly sophisticated planning and super speed.

I flexed my right hand and lightly placed a finger on the trigger. "Ok, I'm ready."

Tom nodded and pulled out a remote as he walked over to Chris and hit one of the buttons. The target dummy came to life and pulled out a standard issued M4 pistol, the metal shining. It held it shoulder height and started to fire, the non-lethal paintballs launching at around three hundred meters a second.

I dived to out of the way as the first paintballs whizzed by my head and waited for the second wave. As more paintballs flew towards me, I dived again, avoiding a near hit to the shoulder. I dove behind a nearby rock as the last three bullets splattered against it.

After all fifteen were fired, the droid stopped and dropped the mag out. He reached into one of his utility pouches and grabbed another mag. He smacked it in and cocked the gun, ready for another round.

"How you doing Leon, do you want to stop?" Tom asked.

"Pssh, this is nothing. Take it to level five." I told him.

Tom raised an eyebrow but did as he was asked. The droid put the pistol away and walked over to the backpack and picked out a pulse rifle. He turned the safety off and ran over to a nearby tree for cover.

It was quiet in the field, the breeze rustling the grass and leaves. I poked my head out briefly and quickly ducked down as a red paintball splattered on top of the rock. _Well…shit; this is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be_. I readied the pulse rifle in my hand, finally flicking the safety off. I looked around for more cover, spotting a tree a few meters to the left. I pointed the barrel on the right side of the rock and fired three rounds blindly and dashed for the tree. As I fell into the tree, I heard three splats and saw the red paint right next to me. _Too close_.

I reached into a utility pouch and pulled out my small mirror that I usually carried. I slowly put it around the tree, trying to see where the droid was, but the mirror was quickly covered in red paint. "Damn it!" I hissed as I put the mirror away.

I closed my eyes and tried to listen for the gears. I thought I heard it faintly about 5 meters away. Still with my eyes closed, I jumped from behind the tree and pulled the trigger three times. I felt pain blossom on my arm as I heard the splatter of paint. I opened my eyes to see my left arm completely covered in paint. I looked around for the droid and saw his head and upper chest sporting red splotches.

"See I told you he'd do fine." Chris said, slapping Tom on the back. Tom glared at him and powered the droid down.

"Congrats Leon you have the fastest time, minute and a half."

I smiled. "Woo!"

"Alright round of beer on Leon!" Chris yelled as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and we started walking out of the field towards the jeep.

As we got in the jeep, we heard a crackle as someone spoke on the radio. "HQ to Rogue, HQ to Rouge, come in Rogue."

Tom grabbed the receiver. "This is Rogue Two."

"What's your twenty?"

Tom looked at us. "About three miles away from home; what's up?"

There was silence. "I want you three back here double time. We got a mission."

All three of us looked at each other and smiled as we high fived. "Alright HQ, we'll be there in twenty." Tom put the receiver back on its clip.

"Bout damn time." Chris muttered.

Tom took the jeep out of park and we floored it towards the base.

[….]

"Alright ladies, listen up 'cause I'm only going to say this once." Horst said. Standing at 6'4 with short silver hair and piercing gray eyes, General Albert Horst had been in the marines for over forty years, serving in the front lines during the Space War of 2140. Having retired in 2150, he's spent the last twenty-nine years training new recruits.

He clicked a button on the remote he was holding and the projector in the room came to life, showing a desolate planet. "This is Acheron or LV-426 as WY is calling it. Three months ago, we sent a battalion of marines and two civies to investigate the human colony Hadley's Hope and as of now, we've had no contact with them for over three weeks. Forty eight hours ago, command sent in a search and rescue team." He leaned against the desk in the front of the room. "We, on the other hand, are to go search for and rescue one Doctor Michael Curtis." He said, pushing another button on the remote and the slide switched to the doctor.

The doctor had poufy curly black hair. He wore bifocal glasses and had a thin scar running along his nose. He looked like your stereotypical mad scientist, except a lot younger than you'd expect.

Horst grabbed some papers from the desk. "One Michael Curtis, age forty five, height 5'8, weight one hundred and seventy five pounds. Last known location is on the southern hemisphere of Acheron. What he was researching is 'classified' by command. Also traveling with him was his daughter, a doctor-in-training Winry Curtis." He said, pushing the button again and the slide changed to the daughter.

It looked like her college graduation picture as she wore a flowing black gown with a golden tassel. She was of average height, just shy of Chris actually. She was smiling brightly her blue eyes sparkling. It looked like she had long brown hair but most was hidden behind the tassel. Horst shuffled through more papers. "Winry Curtis, age 22, height 5'5, weight a hundred and ten. She graduated the top of her field of biochemical theories at Yale before leaving with her father to Acheron."

My mouth hung open as Chris whistled and leaned in close to me. "What I wouldn't do to that…" He whispered as he noticed my face and smiled. "Well, someone have a crush?"

My face turned red. "I do not." I whispered back.

"Captains Baxton and Redfield, would you two like to add anything?" Horst asked, his eyebrow raised.

"No sir." We both said at the same time. As Horst looked at the papers, I elbowed Chris in the gut.

"Thought so." He said as he looked at us. "Any questions?"

"When do we leave?"

"Two hours."

Tom got up and stretched. "Then we better get ready."

Horst nodded. "Shower and get your shit ready. Meet in Hangar 94. Dismissed." Tom, Chris, and I got up and saluted to Horst as we left the room. "Redfield, could you hold on a minute?" Horst said as I walked past him. The others looked at me.

"Go on guys, I'll catch up." I said as they left the room.

"Shut the door." Horst commanded. I shut the door and sat in front of his desk as he massaged his temples.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" I asked.

"Go ahead." He said.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed. "Your sister Emily was on a research mission with a group from her university is that correct?"

I didn't like where this was going. "Yes she was."

"Have you talked to her lately?"

"Not in about two weeks- wait you aren't saying?" I asked horrified at what he was implying.

He nodded. "I'm sorry son but your sister is on Acheron with Dr. Curtis."

I sat there stunned. "What the hell was she doing there?"

"Like I said earlier, I don't know." He frowned. "I'm sorry."

I buried my head in my hands. "It's ok sir; it's not like it can get any worse."

"Don't be too sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I hate to be the bearer of even more bad news but your parents are dead. They died in an explosion."

I quickly looked up. "WHAT?"

"I don't have all the details but from what I hear, they were messing with chemicals they shouldn't have. If it's any consolation, they didn't suffer."

I hung my head, afraid to show Horst my tears. He walked around the desk and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry son; if there was anything I can do…"

"Thanks but its ok." I said, trying to smile.

"You don't have to go on the mission son, I can find a replacement."

"I can't do that, we've been training for months and it's our first mission, I can't let us down." I said, standing up. "Is there anything else?"

"That's all Captain; just be ready in two hours if you plan on joining us."

"Will do sir." I saluted before leaving.

I headed towards my quarters, ignoring everyone else that I passed. I shut the door and locked it, walking towards the shower. I quickly disrobed and hopped in, the cold water stinging my flesh. As it hit me, the water slowly began to warm up. Finally the tears that I held in with Horst burst to the surface, mixing with the water streaming down my face. I couldn't believe my parents were gone, memories rushing through my mind. My dad helping me fire a gun or ride a bike; my mom teaching me how to cook and basic first aid. Because of my parents, I learned how to survive on my own and now they were gone, their happiness and influence nothing but memories.

After my silent mourning, I got out of the shower and looked at the man in the mirror. He stood at six foot even, had light green eyes, short brown hair and some 5 o'clock shadow. He was well muscled, having spent hours in the gym, roped into some workout competition with Chris.

"I'll deal with those feelings later." I told myself as I wrapped a towel around my body and went to my dresser. I grabbed some civie clothes, a black shirt with the marine logo and dark blue jeans. I decided to wander to the mess hall and eat some breakfast, slipping on my shoes.

I made it to the mess hall and saw Tom and Chris already there, eating what looked like beef stew. I grabbed myself a plate and sat next to Tom, silently eating my food.

Tom and Chris looked at each other. "You ok?" Chris asked, his usual goofiness gone.

I told them what happened and they both gave me their sympathy, Tom reassuringly patting my shoulder.

"It's alright guys; there's nothing I can do now." I said, staring vacantly into my beef stew.

They shared another look. "So…what do you think of the doctor's daughter?" Chris asked, trying to distract me. It worked.

"What?" I asked as I felt my face get red.

He smiled. "So what do you think of Winry?"

"Well, I think it's good that we were called to rescue them."

"You know what I mean."

"…I think she's pretty yes."

Chris smiled. "I knew it; you got a crush on her don't cha?"

"No you crazy bastard. I've never met the girl."

"Whatever you say lover boy." He said, waving his hand indifferently.

I sighed. "You know I hate you right?"

"Of course but I gotta get you laid somehow."

"Aye aye aye you two; enough." Tom said, shaking his head.

"I do have a question though."

"What?"

"Why do you think we were called in? What's so bad that they had to call the marines in?"

"I don't know but I have a feeling we're going to find out one way or the other."

"So I'm not the only one getting that feeling?" I asked with both of them shaking their heads yes. "That's great."

Tom looked at his watch. "Come on guys; we can catch some shut eye before we leave."

"You two go ahead, I'm gonna go relax." I said, getting up and grabbing my plate and throwing it away.

They looked at me. "Ok, if you say so." Chris said as Chris and Tom headed towards their quarters.

I headed towards my quarters and fell onto my bed. I stared at the ceiling, thinking about Emily and my parents. "I hope you're ok Emily… I'm coming to get you." I mumbled as I fell asleep.

[….]

_Huh, I guess I fell asleep, didn't I?_ I yawned and stretched, looking at the clock at the clock; I had about 20 minutes before they left. I yawned again and quickly got changed into the standard black jumpsuit and grabbed my pack. I threw it over my shoulder and ran down the corridor, heading towards the hangar.

I met Chris and Tom along the way, both looking like they just woke up. Chris's black hair stood up like he spiked his hair. Tom's blond hair was messy as he ran a hand through it.

"You ready?" He asked and we both nodded.

We ran to the hangar and saw Horst already standing on the boarding ramp. "About time you lazy asses, I was about to leave without you." He said as he smiled.

"Yeah, yeah we know but would we still get paid?" Chris asked as they stowed their belongings.

Horst shook his head, mumbling something. "So who else is coming?" Tom asked, looking around.

"Just us four of us."

"Fun." Chris said as he headed towards the sleeping pods.

Tom, Horst and I headed towards the cockpit and sat down; Horst in the pilot seat, Tom in the copilot.

We strapped the safety harnesses on and put the headsets on. "Mission control, this is Phoenix One requesting permission to leave."

"Phoenix One, this is Mission Control, you got the sky. Good hunting out there."

"Thanks, we'll bring back some souvenirs." Horst said as he powered the engines up. He lifted us off the ground and we blasted through the atmosphere.

He put in the coordinates of LV 426 before we did one final check of the systems. When everything came back green, he put us on autopilot and we headed into the sleeping pod room. Chris was already asleep, his pod shut.

"Alright it'll take about a week to get there, so if you have to pee now, hop to it." Horst said as he stripped to his boxers.

"Will do sir." Tom said as he lied in his pod.

"Emily, please be ok." I whispered as I lay down and shut the lid. I felt the sleeping gas enter the pod and I fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Emily… Emily, where are you?" I yelled as I ran down a dark corridor. I heard hissing all around me and briefly looked over my shoulder. I was being chased by some sort of monster. It had a long elongated, cylindrical skull and was thin, with an almost skeletal appearance; very little muscle or fat. I couldn't see its eyes or even if it had eyes. It had a long vertebrate tail, ending in a blade-like tip. It was completely black, barely standing out from the dark corridor.

I ran faster, trying to get away from it. I heard it following me, the hissing getting louder. I saw three more climbing towards me from the wall. I screamed and tried to dodge it but it landed on top of me, causing me to fall on my back. I tried to grab my pistol but it pinned my arm down. I stared into its face as it dripped saliva onto my armor before it opened its mouth-

"Leon, hey buddy you alright?" Tom voice asked, worried.

I opened my eyes, my body was covered in cold sweat as I leaned up. "Yeah I'm alright. It was just a nightmare."

He raised an eyebrow. "It was more than a nightmare, you've been shouting for the last few hours."

I grinned uneasily. "Yeah, it was one hell of a doozy."

Tom crossed his arms and waited. I sighed and briefly told him what I could remember of my 'dream'. He was silent for a moment. "Never heard of that kind of animal before." He said.

"Neither have I but I want to know why I'm having a random dream of a monster I've never seen."

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

I sighed as I got out of the sleeping pod, putting my clothes back on. "We there yet?"

He nodded. "Been hovering in the atmosphere for a while. Chris is trying to get anything from Curtis."

We walked into the cockpit; Chris and Horst were already awake, Chris on the radio.

"Phoenix One to Echo Squad, Phoenix One to Echo Squad… come on Burt pick up damn it." Chris said into the still silent radio. He looked over at Horst. "Nothing sir."

"Damn." He said, staring at his hands. He sighed. "Strap in, we going down."

Tom and I sat into the two remaining seats as Horst grabbed the throttle and pushed it as we started to head towards the other side of the planet. The small ship broke through the atmosphere, the rain and wind making visibility nil. We slowly made our way and landed on the small island that the Curtis' apparently called home, relying completely on the sensors. The area was desolate and deserted, not a sign of the supposed soldiers left to guard.

"Shouldn't there be someone watching or patrolling right now?" Chris asked with his eyes squinted against the rain.

"There should be, I don't like this." Horst said as he unbuckled and headed towards the armory. We followed him as we got our armor vests on. Horst walked around, handing out our weapons. "Remember, we're here to find and rescue the Curtis', that's it. Don't be going off by yourself. We're a team, not lone wolfs. Got it?"

"Sir, yes sir!" We said simultaneously.

He nodded and pressed a button next to the landing ramp and with a steady hiss, the ramp bounced against the ground. The four of us quickly ran out into the heavy rain and made a dash for the house. We quickly looked around; noticing small arm fire and what suspiciously looked like dried blood. As we got closer, we noticed several windows smashed, the glass littered outside and the metal shudders bouncing against the metal walls.

"What the hell happened?" Chris whispered, looking in awe at the destruction.

"I'd rather not find out." Horst said back. We made it to the front door to find the power shut off. "Damn it of course the door would be down. Tom, think you can do anything?"

"I can try." Tom said, slinging the pulse rifle on his back and pulled out his multitool. He flicked it a few times and found the tool that he needed and started to pry the cover off. The cover quickly fell off and Tom squinted in the dark. "Could use a light." He said as I shone the shoulder lamp at the box. "Thanks." he said, staring at the assorted wires. "Probably gonna be a while." He said as he started tracing the wires.

"Chris you follow me, we'll do some recon. You guys stay here." Horst said as we nodded and Horst and Chris wandered around the 'house'.

When they were gone, Tom sighed. "I don't like this." He said, finding two red wires and a green.

"Neither do I, it's too quiet." I said.

"Yeah, we should've seen someone by now. What the hell happened?"

"Like Horst said, I'd rather not know."

"Yeah me too but I have a feeling we're going to find out." Tom said as he cut a red wire and the green wire. He gently touched them together and didn't even get a spark. "Well shit."

"No power?" I asked. He nodded. "Looks like we got to breach it then." I said.

"I hate breaching." He said as he put the multitool away and reached into one of his pouches and produced some sticky C4. He planted a little under the size of his thumb and stuck a fuse into the substance. He grabbed a lighter and lit it as him and I ran for cover. The ground shook and there was a loud boom as the door was blown off its track.

"Well if they didn't know we were here before, they do now." I said as I looked into a completely dark corridor.

"What the hell was that?" Horst said as he came running followed by Chris.

"Power was out; had to use alternative method."

"How much?"

"Little smaller than my thumb."

Chris inspected the blackened door frame. "Maybe too much?"

We shrugged. "Maybe."

"Alright, let's get a move on. Remember, watch each other's backs." Horst said as he led the way into the dark corridor. We followed suit and held our guns at the ready.

The corridor was full of small holes in the wall and covered in blood. The light fixtures were all broken, the bulbs shattered. We found chairs, tables, anything that could be used as a blockade in the corridor.

As we walked through the makeshift debris, I accidently stepped on something shiny. "What in the world?" I asked as I bent down and I noticed it small locket. It was small, shiny gold with the inscription E.R. in cursive. "Emily." I muttered as I tried to open it. I finally got it open and sure enough, it was the locket I had got her for her eighteenth birthday. It held a picture of me, her, mom and dad standing together as she held her diploma for graduating high school. I sunk to my knees as I held it. _Oh god… she is here_. I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Chris with his goofy grin.

"I'm sure she's fine, she's a smart one." He said, smiling.

"Thanks." I muttered, putting the locket in a pocket and getting off the ground. He nodded and we rushed to catch up; Horst and Tom not noticing.

We made it to a forked corner and stopped. "Alright Tom and Leon, you go left, me and Chris will go right. I want a check in every 5 minutes, not a second late. Understood?" Horst commanded.

"Yes sir." We all said as we split up into the groups.

"Great I'm stuck with the old timer, how boring." Chris said, pouting.

"Just for that, you're on point." Horst said as he waited for us to divvy up the supplies.

"Good job, we've been here for an hour and you're already in trouble." Tom said, shaking his head.

"Personal record." Chris said with a smug smile.

"Hardy har har." I said, mocking him. I put my hand into a fist. "Good luck."

He pounded it with his own. "You too. Be careful, I'm getting a bad vibe from this place." He said seriously, his usual joking manner gone.

I nodded as we silently finished dividing the ammo before separating down the two paths. Tom and I kept a careful watch as we made our way down the long hallway, bringing out the movement sensor. I kept an especially careful eye on it. Suddenly, the sensor blipped, the radar sensing something. We halted before he leaned over and watched the screen with me as the small white dot continuously moved closer to us. We both looked around and went back to back, our guns held ready to fire. Suddenly, the blip disappeared.

"What the hell?" Tom asked the strain evident in his voice.

I gulped. "No idea." I said, still scanning the hallway.

After a few more tense moments, Tom sighed. "Come on, I guess it was nothing."

We continued walking, now on high alert. We searched every inch of the hallway, noticing it was just like the other, debris littered. The light overhead suddenly blared into existence but very weakly. We stared at it for a moment before continuing.

"I don't like this, the door and everything else had no power but suddenly this light does? It doesn't make sense." I said.

"I know but what can we do?"

"Get the hell out of here?"

"And abandon the mission, our first mission? I don't think so."

I sighed. "Your right… it's just that there's something not right here."

"I agree but we can't just-" he stopped as there was scurrying behind a table nearby. We both aimed our guns towards the sound as Tom slowly walked towards it to investigate. He shone his light down and surprise showed on his face. "What the fuck is that?" He asked. I bent down to look at it.

It vaguely resembled two human hands pushed together, with 5 digits on each side and a center base like a butterfly. It had a long tail that ended in a spike. It was tan and it didn't appear to have any eyes. I saw that the mouth was open and a tube like appendage appeared out the mouth.

"Whatever it is, it scares the hell out of me." I said walking away from it. Tom stared at it for a few more seconds. "Come on Tom, let's go." I insisted.

He tore his gaze from it. "I just got a terrible feeling right now." He said, his hands starting to shake.

I don't know if I was more amazed or scared. Tom Clancy, the one man that I've never seen cry or freak out, was now scared. _This does not bode well_. "Come on, let's go." I repeated, grabbing him and dragged him along.

As we continued down the hallway, the light finally went out, whatever power left gone. We searched more thoroughly and I saw Tom was even higher strung than usual. _What I wouldn't give for Chris' terrible jokes right now._ The radio burst into static.

"Anyone want to trade partners? Mine isn't working." Chris' voice echoed in the silence.

I held the button down to talk. "Chris, how much trouble are you trying to get into?"

"However much I can in 2 hours."

I sighed. "So how is it on your end?"

"Very dark and lonely; yours?"

"Same expect we've had a couple incidents."

There was a sudden silence on the radio. "What?"

"I'm not sure; the radar went off and we ran into the remains of some kind of animal or bug." Tom said his voice unusually quiet.

Horst must have noticed. "Tom, you and Leon head back to the fork; we're heading there now to meet up."

"But sir, we've-"

"That's an order Major Clancy."

Tom was silent. "Yes sir."

"Good; eta five minutes."

"Understood." Tom said, signing off. "Come on, let's go." He said, motioning down the hall we just came from when the motion detector went wild. At least twenty individuals were right down the hall.

"What the hell?" I said, staring at it. I looked at Tom. "What should we do?"

He bit the inside of his cheek. He raised the gun and flicked the safety off. "Let's go see what the ruckus is all about."

I nodded and flicked the safety off too as qe stealthily made our way down the hall, the blips getting louder and more frequent. We saw a shut door and leaned against the wall on either side.

"You ready?" He mouthed. I nodded and he pushed off the wall and kicked the door in as I crouched and stayed underneath his gun. We stared in shock at what laid before us.

"What the fuck?" I said before we heard hissing coming towards us.


	3. Chapter 3

We stared at the room; it was covered in what looked like hardened resin. I walked over the wall and touched it; it felt like a spiders web if it was dried to the point of rock.

"What the hell is this stuff?" Tom asked as the hissing continued to get worse.

We both looked around the room, shining our lights over every corner. Suddenly a metal door shut and locked in place of the wooden one Tom broke done moments ago.

"What the?" Tom said as the blips in the motion sensor picked up.

I stared in horror in what looked like fifty or so blips heading towards us. "Um Tom, you think you can open that door?"

Tom gulped. "That bad?" He asked as I saw sweat start to build up on his forehead. We looked for a control panel but couldn't find any. "Looks like I gotta cut through it." He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the mini blow torch. He started to slowly burn through the door as the blips were less than five meters away.

"Any time now." I said, frantically searching the room with my flashlight.

"Going as fast as I can." He said over the hissing. I watched as he finally cut through the door. "Got it." He said as a black blur launched through the hole.

"JESUS CHRIST!" We both screamed as the monster tackled Tom to the floor. Before any thought entered my mind, I ran and kicked it off him.

As it fell to the floor, Tom and I opened fire with our plasma rifles. The rifles tore through the flesh as the creature screamed in pain before collapsing in a puddle of yellow steaming liquid.

As we both stared at in shock, my mind recognized it as the creature from my dream. "Tom it's, it's the creature from my dream." I said in shock.

"There's no fucking way you could've dreamed _that_." He said, slowly walking towards it. We both kept our rifles trained on it as Tom bent down and prodded the corpse with the barrel of his rifle. There was sizzling sounds and we watched in horror as the tip of the barrel was slowly corroded. "What the fuck?" Tom said, staring at the remains of his grenade launcher.

I backpedaled immediately and shone my light through the hole we made through the door. "New plan, get the fuck out of here." I said.

"No complaints here." He said as I watched his back as he stepped through the still warm hole.

As I bent down to get through the hole, I suddenly felt as if there was something watching me. I turned around and saw a vent cover violently pushed from the ceiling and clattered loudly on the ground. I shone my light on the vent and watched as two more creatures slithered out. I pushed myself through the hole in the door and started running. "Let's GO!" I screamed back as Tom tried to catch up to me.

We tore through the darkness and headed back to the fork in the hallway, hoping to meet up with Chris or Horst. Several minutes later, we saw Chris and Horst on high alert, both sweeping the hallways.

"STOP!" Horst yelled as we made our ways towards them. Both Chris and Horst had their rifles aimed at our chest.

"It's us General!" I yelled back, slowing down with my hands in the air.

"Oh thank Christ, I thought it was more of those _things_." He said, sighing as they both lowered their guns. We finally stopped in front of them and noticed both had some burns on their arms and Chris had his undershirt torn.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

"We were checking the hallway and were making our way back here when three of those things attacked us. One jumped on me as I was trying to shoot it. Horst shot it off me and it felt like my skin was melting." Chris said as he showed us his burns.

"What the fuck were those things General?" Tom shouted as he got in Horst's face.

"I don't know Major but get the fuck out of my face." Horst shot back.

"Whoa guys." Chris said as he stepped in between the two, slightly pushing Tom away from Horst. "Let's just take a second to calm down."

Tom sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair. Suddenly there was a crackle over the radio and we all grabbed our radios. "Hello?" Tom asked into the receiver.

"HELLO? Can anyone hear me?" A panicked voice practically screamed; it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Yes we can hear you, where are you?" Tom asked.

"We're in the main lab; you gotta save us!" It said.

"How many of you are there and is Dr. Curtis with you?" Horst finally spoke.

"Um… I think there's around fifty… we've lost some to those…_things_ and Dr. Curtis is healing the wounded."

"Wait, how did you get on this encrypted channel?" Chris asked, surprising all of us.

"We found a radio on a dead marine and grabbed it before we ran." The voice said.

"Alright, what's your name?" Horst asked.

"My name is Dr. Emily Redfield; well, doctor in training." She said.

My eyes widened in shock. "Emily is that you?" I asked into the radio.

There was a pause. "Leon?"

I started to cry out of joy. "Yeah it's me. I'm so glad you're ok."

She was crying to. "Me too but what are you doing here?"

"I'll explain later. Right now let's focus on getting you guy's outta here. How do we get to you from the main lobby?"

"Head down the right most of the hallways and continue going right till you hit a fork in the road. Then take a left and follow the debris." She paused. "Leon, I'm glad you're here."

I smiled. "Alright just hold on, we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Ok, please hurry… big brother." She said quietly before there was silence.

We signed off. "Thank god she's ok." I mumbled, putting a hand over my heart.

"Don't be thanking me just yet." Chris said as the blips came back.

We looked at each other and started running back down the way that Chris and Horst came.

[….]

We've been running for a good five minutes before the blips finally disappeared. We were covered in sweat and panting from continuous exertion.

"Thank god they trained us well." Chris panted, his tongue hanging out like a dog.

"Remind me to write that on your tombstone." I joked, just as tired.

"Save it you two, I'm not in the mood." Horst said, his age finally catching up to him. He seemed more winded then any of us. He didn't look so good, pale and sweating profusely.

"Let's take a break." Tom suggested. We nodded and stopped, leaning against the wall for support.

Horst wiped the sweat from his brow. "I'm getting too old for this shit. After this, I'm retiring."

"Horst, you've said that for the last three years." Chris reminded him and got a glare in return.

I looked at Tom who had been oddly silent; he was staring at the end of his rifle. I hoped it could still fire. I slapped Tom on the shoulder. "You ok?"

He shook his head and blinked. "Yeah, I'm just fine."

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh, bullshit."

He sighed. "It just feels as if I'm forgetting something very important..."

"I'm sure you'll remember it. Just give it time and it'll randomly come back."

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright ladies, we've got people to rescue." Horst said as he forced himself up. "Let's go."

We nodded and got up and started down the hall again, but this time in a slow cautious pattern. Chris and I got stuck watching the back as Horst and Tom watched the front.

"…So what do ya think?" Chris whispered to me.

"Think about what?"

"This mission."

I stared at Chris. "What about this mission?"

He sighed in exasperation. "So you're not getting the feeling there's something going on that we don't know about?"

I grinned. "Chris, you always think there's a conspiracy."

"I know but this time it's different." He said as he lost his humor. "You should have seen it Leon; when those things charged us, Horst looked as if he seen ghosts."

"You're exaggerating Chris."

He shook his head. "I'm pretty sure there's something he's not telling us."

"Of course there is we are in the military, they always keep secrets from us grunts."

"Yeah, only this time it'll get us all killed." He said, the hallway suddenly going cold.

"What're you two whispering back there?" Tom asked.

"About whether or not you can fire that thing." Chris said quickly, pointing at Tom's rifle.

"I think it'll fire."

"Let's hope so, I have a feeling we're going to need all the ammo we can get."

There was silence as we continued towards the lab.

"Did anyone see those things' blood?" Chris asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it looked yellow and steamy? I think that was its blood."

"There's no way, it melted my rifle. How could that be blood?" Tom asked, mystified.

"I'm not sure but it could be dangerous. Make sure none of it gets on you." Horst said.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Chris muttered.

Suddenly we heard shuffling and scampering near us. We immediately paused and went back to back. We looked at the motion sensor and found out there was a small dot heading away from us.

"What the hell?" I asked, staring as the dot retreated. "Hold on, I'm gonna go see what it is." I said before taking off after it.

"Redfield wait!" Horst yelled at me as I turned the hall.

It was completely silent as I rushed down the dark hallway. I dodged the debris and finally made my way to a door. I wiped sweat off my brow and checked to make sure the safety was off on my rifle still and checked the ammo, seventy shots left in the clip. I gulped and grabbed the door handle before flinging it open.

I heard screams and heard shuffling feet. I shone my light in the dark room and found several children huddling together in fear.

I quickly pointed the rifle away from any of them. "Hey it's alright, I'm here to help." I said as I slowly walked towards one of them. I could barely see so I reached into another pocket and pulled out a flare. I tore the cap off and put it on the ground, letting its eerie red light fill the room. It gave me a good chance to look at the children.

They were covered in dirt and grime with some having what looked like burns and dried blood on them. Two of them had blonde hair, now covered in grime. One had a pair of old fashioned black rimmed glasses.

What looked as the leader of the group, the boy with the glasses hesitantly stood in front of the others. "W-who are you?" He stuttered.

I faintly smiled, remembering when I use to be like that. "My name is Leon and I'm with the military. I was sent to rescue you guys."

They all smiled and ran over to hug me. I wasn't ready and fell to the floor.

"Look Leon, I know you're tired but now isn't the time for a nap." I heard Chris say. I looked up and Chris, Tom, and Horst stood in the doorway, shaking their heads.

"Hey guys look at what I found." I said with a smile.

"Kids, why did it have to be kids?" Horst whispered.

"Are you here to save us?" A little girl that was probably around six years old asked me.

I smiled. "Of course." She smiled and hugged me. I felt something wet and I saw her crying. "What's wrong?" I asked worried.

"Mommy and Daddy said the same thing before they went bye-bye." She said, her voice taking on a sad tone.

I patted her on the back reassuringly as I looked at the glassed boy. "What's your name?"

Of all the things to scare me today, the sigh that I heard from him was the worst. It was a sigh that held a weight too heavy for one so young. "Haywood Ford."

"So Haywood, where's everyone's parents?"

His brown eyes grew cold as he pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "They're all dead; killed by those monsters."


	4. Chapter 4

"Alright Chris and Leon, you're on kid duty. Tom, you're with me on saving our asses duty." Horst said as we exited the room and started down the hallway towards the lab.

"Yes sir." We said as Tom and I traded rifles.

"Um Mr. Leon?" Ashley asked, her voice muffled.

"Yes?" I answered, going down to a knee to be at eye level with her.

"Are we going to be ok?" She asked.

"Of course we are; I and the others will make sure of it." I said with a smile.

"Weally?"

"I promise." I said, offering her my hand. She grabbed it and we ran to catch up with the others.

"Psst, since when did you get so good with kids?" Chris whispered to me as we trailed Horst.

"I didn't, it just comes naturally." I whispered back with a smirk.

"Ain't you just freakin' special?" Chris mocked.

"Shut it; we got other things to worry about." Tom said as we slowly made our way towards the lab.

Haywood led the three other kids; Timmy, Eliza, and Sherrie down the hallway behind Horst. They were in a circle, everyone holding hands. The blip from the motion sensor went off and everyone froze. Horst looked at it and we all held our breaths. The blips went away and everyone sighed.

"This'll be the death of me." Horst mumbled.

Suddenly the ceiling collapsed and those monsters swarmed us. The kids screamed and cowered in terror as Ashley gripped my leg and buried her face into it as Chris, Tom, and I opened fire. I didn't hear fire from Horst's weapon, so I glanced over to see him staring at the creatures in fascination. The creatures screamed and died as more and more continued to pour out of the hole as Tom's rifle ran empty.

"Let's go!" He yelled as we all retreated down the hall. We heard a thud and scream as we saw one of the kids, it looked like Timmy, get grabbed and he screamed before he disappeared. I picked up a crying Ashley as we sped down the dark hallway.

We exited the house and stepped into pouring rain and rushed to the transport. We panted in the transport, trying to get our breaths back. Everyone was pale, haunted at the loss of a child. The kids cried together as I held Ashley and she buried her face into my armor.

I heard Tom, Chris, and Horst arguing quietly in the cockpit so I went to put Ashley down but she clung to my shoulder.

"Pwease don't go." She begged, her blue eyes pleading.

I rested my hand on her head. "Don't worry, I'll be right over there." I said, pointing at the cockpit door. "They have to get through me to hurt you." I promised.

She very hesitantly went with the others as I made my way into the cockpit. I gently shut the door before I entered the argument.

"What the fuck was that all about?" I demand.

"What are you talking about?" Horst asked.

"I saw you not firing at those things? Why the fuck weren't you?" I hissed as Chris and Tom's eyes grew in shock.

"I… I was too." Horst said, stuttering.

"Bull fucking shit." I grabbed his rifle. "Let me see the ammo."

"NO-" He tried to say, till I grabbed it out of his hands. I turned it so they could read the ammo counter; it said ninety-nine.

"You son of a bitch are you trying to get us all killed?!" Tom yelled reaching for Horst's throat.

Chris grabbed Tom's arms. "Easy, he's still our commanding officer."

"Thank you Chris, at least someone under-" Chris punched him right in the face and he stumbled back into a chair.

"I just wanted to punch him first." Chris said, shaking his hand.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "You know we have to go back in there right?"

They looked at me like I was insane. "Why?" They said together.

"We have to save those people; it is our job."

"Yeah but I don't remember ever reading anything in our job description saying we would be fighting those… _things_." Chris said.

I stretched and headed towards the door. "Where are you going?" They asked.

"You guys can stay here and babysit the kids, I'm going back."

"Wha?" They stared at me. "You can't be serious Leon."

I checked the ammo on my gun. "Of course I am. I'm not leaving my sister in there with those monsters."

"What about the kids, Ashley needs you." Chris said, trying to guilt me into staying.

"She has the others; I know what you're trying to do Chris but I need to get my sister."

"Leon, we need to think of-" Tom started before I yelled at him.

"I just lost my parents, I can't lose her too!" I yelled. I dropped my gun and sunk to the floor. "I just can't… I can't do it." I muttered, head in my hands as I tried to keep the tears in.

I heard the door open and felt two little hands wrap around my shoulders. I turned around to see Ashley trying to hug me. Before I could even ask, she looked at me. "When I got sad, Mommy and Daddy would give me a hug and say everything is going to be alwight." She said, before trying again.

I hugged her back and felt a smile slowly appear on my face. "Thank you." I whispered to Ashley as I got up and wiped the tears out of my eyes.

Chris looked at me with his trademark goofy grin. "You back?"

I faintly smiled. "Depends."

Tom sighed. "You still want to go back in, don't you?"

"Of course, I'm not leaving those people in there."

Tom and Chris sighed together. "Looks like we're gonna have to make sure that you come back out." Chris said, checking the ammo on his gun.

"You guys don't have to and besides, one of you has to stay here and watch the kids."

Chris and Tom looked at each other. "You go Tom, I'll stay and watch over the kids." Chris said. Tom went to argue but Chris interrupted him. "You have better reflexes than I do and are better with a gun. You go."

Tom sighed and nodded his head. Chris handed Tom his rifle and we went to the armory to reload. Ashley was attached to my leg and after checking our gear, I took her aside. I went on my knees and looked her in the eye.

"Ashley, I gotta go back in there to rescue the people but I want you to stay here and listen to Chris ok?"

She started to cry and shook her head. "Why do you have to leave?"

"Because one of the people that I have to rescue is my sister and I need to make sure she's ok."

"But what about those monsters?" She asked.

"Tom and I will make sure none of them can get to you guys." I reached into my pocket and held out my radio. "If you need to talk to me, have Chris give you his radio and I'll answer it."

"Really?" She asked, eyeing the hunk of metal with fascination.

"Yes." I said with a laugh as I pulled her into a hug. "Now come on, let's take you to the others."

She grabbed my hand as I led her back to the other kids and she slowly started to talk to the others. She waved goodbye one more time before the kids disappeared into the ship. I sighed and ran my left hand through my hair. Someone grabbed my shoulder and turned me around into a hug. I realized it was Chris as he let go of me.

"Take care of yourself; don't leave me with the kids." He said with a grin.

"Don't worry, I won't let you become a stay at home mom just yet."

He laughed. "You're the best."

I shook my head. "What about Horst?"

"I'm not sure; we kinda don't have rules for this sorta thing."

I scratched my head. "Why don't you make you help him watch the kids?"

Chris grinned. "Sounds like a plan." We both looked over to Tom as he held Horst's fully reloaded weapon. Chris sighed and shook his head. "Go play heroes but be careful."

I started to walk towards Tom. "We will Mom." I said as me and Tom ran out back into the rain and headed towards the nondescript building.

[….]

Tom and I stealthily made our way back to the building and slipped inside, getting out of the rain. We stood in the main entrance way briefly, trying to dry off.

"Do you remember which way they said to go?" I asked him, hoping he'd remember.

He was silent and stared off into the distance. "I think when we get to the fork it's to the left, not sure though."

"Better than what I had, let's go." I said as we made our way back to the fork in the hallway. We saw the debris from our battle; the monster's carcasses and Tom's useless rifle scattered along with most of the ceiling panels.

We slowly waded through the mess and avoided the carcasses. We stopped when we heard some shuffling and tried to pinpoint where the noise came from. The motion detector hadn't gone off so we pushed forwards.

We made it to the fork in the hallway and headed left. This side was nearly in perfect condition, almost as if it was purposely left alone. We glanced at each other and knew we were thinking the same thing. We went back to back and made our way down the surprisingly brightly lit corridor.

There was a crackle over the radio that made both of us jump. I quickly grabbed mine. "Hello?"

"Leon?" Ashley asked. I could tell something was wrong though.

"What's wrong Ashley?" I asked.

"The old guy… the old guy shot Chris and disappeared." She said as Tom and I stared at each other in shock.

"What do we do?" I asked Tom, who stood there.

"Can you handle this by yourself?" He asked me. No fucking around, can you handle this?

"Yes." I said without hesitation.

"Good, tell Ashley I'm heading back." He said, turning around and making his way back. "Turn to Channel Alpha when you're done." He said over his shoulder.

"Will do." I told him before holding the button down to talk. "Ashley, Tom is heading back as fast as he can; you'll be ok alright?" I said as calmly as I could into the radio.

"Ok…" She said very unconvincingly.

"Don't worry I'll be back in a little bit, I'm almost to the door." I said. "I'll see you soon, be careful." I said before switching over to Alpha. "So what's up?" I asked.

"What the hell happened?"

"Not sure; all I know is Horst shot Chris then disappeared. He could be heading this way so be careful."

He laughed. "You don't have to tell me twice." We were silent as we headed opposite directions. "Did I tell you I don't like this?"

"Did I tell you I have a bad feeling about this?" I countered.

"Good point."

I sighed. "We should've listened to Chris in the beginning."

"I completely agree but it's our first mission. You can't blame us."

"No but I have a feeling none of us are gonna make it out of here alive." I came to a large metal door that could only be opened with a key card. "Oh crap."

"What?"

"I think I found it but I need a key."

Tom sighed. "Of course you'd need a key. What are you going to do?"

"Plan B."

"Just be careful and don't use too much."

"I know, I know." I said, grabbing the little pouch of C4 and putting less than the size of a quarter on the control panel. I lit the fuse and ran down the corridor and braced against the wall.

The explosion still made me stagger and I ran through the smoke. The control panel and most of the door were gone, twisted by the explosion. I coughed through the smoke and rushed inside.

"Leon, you ok?" Tom asked over the radio.

"Yeah, just fine."

"Well you just alerted the hornet's nest. The whole fucking building shook."

"Of course it did." I started to run. "I'll try and hurry and get them the fuck out. How are you?" I asked.

"Just walked inside; holy shit, he shot Chris in the shoulder. Hey Ashley, it's ok, it's just-yeah, I'm talking to him- hold on. Leon, Ashley wants to say hi."

"Leon, are you ok? Everything shook in here." She asked, panicked.

"Yes, I'm fine; just had to make my own door. Almost done."

"Pwease hurry Leon, everyone is getting a bad feeling." She said before the radio went silent.

"You and me kid, you and me." I muttered to myself. I finally ran through the smoke and was in another dark hallway. "Oh you got to be kidding me." I said.

I heard hissing behind me and the hairs on the back of my neck shot straight up. Without hesitating, I ran down the corridor at full speed.


	5. Chapter 5

I grew tired as I ran down the corridor. I could hear those monsters still chasing me, their hissing right behind me. _This is the longest fucking corridor of my life, it just never ends!_ _If I ever find out who made this place, I'm gonna kill him_. I started to slow down, I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to continue running or my internal rant. Finally, I could see the door at the end of the never ending corridor. I put on a final burst of speed and flung open the door and quickly shut it behind me, leaning against it for a few seconds before sliding to the ground.

I sat there for a few seconds, catching my breath as I scanned the room. It was a small study of sorts, the walls lined with bookcases and a metal door off to the side. It looked like you needed a card, just like the others. The room was bare of any furniture or carpet, the floor an oak wood. As I started to reach for my radio, I heard and saw several plasma rifles aimed at me. I looked up into the scared faces of Doctor Curtis' remaining security guards. Their arms shook as they stared at me with masked faces and I raised my hands.

"Uh…hi?" I asked, trying to keep my voice normal.

"Leon?" I heard someone ask before I saw my sister's head poke from above their shoulders.

When she saw me, she pushed past the two soldiers and ran to me. She flung herself at me, landing on me and the air was pushed out of my lungs. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and gave me a tight hug. I smiled as I hugged her back, finally able to see for myself that she was ok.

After several moments, she looked at the guards. "You can put your guns away, he's here to help." She said. They looked at each other before hesitantly lowering their guns. She got off of me and held out her hand to help me up, which I gratefully accepted. "What took you so long?"

"Oh you know, stopped to look at the sights before getting chased by whatever the hell those creatures were."

"Oh…." She looked around and leaned closer to me. "We'll have to talk in private about that." She whispered so only I could hear.

"Ok…" I said, looking at her.

"Well come on; let me introduce you to everyone." She said, grabbing my hand. She pointed to the two guards. "The one on the left is Corporal Stevens and the one on the right is Private Higgins." They both nodded and gave a small salute, which I returned. She pulled me along until we met another door that required an id card. She pulled one out of her lab pocket and ran it through the slot. We waited a second before the door opened and I saw a few dozen people huddled together in the middle of the room.

The room itself wasn't as big as I thought; it looked like it was a small mess hall, the room could probably fit a hundred and fifty people in it, tops. Everyone looked up at us and froze when they saw me. I raised my hand weakly and gave them a hesitant smile.

Several people in the room had plasma rifles and the look of horror on their faces, none of them had any experience with the weapon they were holding. I had a sudden strong feeling that that would come back to haunt us. She went around to introducing me to everyone, they all faked a smile and acted nice to me but I could feel the tension in the room.

After that, we sat down in a secluded part of the room. "So where's Dr. Curtis?" I asked, slowly eyeing the room.

"He's locked inside his lab, trying to do something." She said scornfully, glaring at a locked door.

"Trying to do what exactly?" I asked, eyeing the door.

"Who knows, he hasn't told any of us. And he won't let anyone in there."

"That's only slightly suspicious." I muttered.

"Yeah, I know."

We were quiet as each of us thought about how our lives so different had unintentionally ended up here. My brain was screaming at me to remember something vital to ask her. I closed my eyes and leaned back, taking a nice gulp of air. "Emily is ah…" My mind blanked on the name as she stared at me. "Oh right, is Curtis' daughter Winry with him?"

She nodded. "Yep, hasn't left his side."

"Good, then that'll be easier on us." I sighed, running my hand through my hair. I remembered that she probably hadn't heard about Mom or Dad. "Hey Emily, is there somewhere where we can talk in private?"

"Yeah, there's a small bunk room that we use. Why?"

I sadly looked at her. "Can you take us there?"

"Yeah…" she said hesitantly before grabbing my hand and led me into the small bedroom."So what's going on? I haven't seen you act this way since you told me Scotty died". She said, referring to our small dog we had back home.

"I'm not sure how to say this…" I paused, working up the nerve. "Do you remember what Mom and Dad were doing before you left?"

"Yeah, they were studying the process of micro-fission. Why?"

"Well… apparently something happened and there was an explosion where they worked." My eyes filled with tears. "They… they didn't make."

She stared at me, her head tilted as she processed the information. I could see the gears turning in her head before her eyes grew misty. She leaned towards me and started to cry, her face buried in my chest armor. I sighed and gave her a hug, resting my head against hers. "Shh… it's ok." I murmured to her, gently rocking her back and forth.

We stayed like this for a few minutes before I felt her stiffen. She pulled away from me and stared at me, her eyes red and puffy. "What exactly were they doing?"

"I'm not sure… they wouldn't tell me."

"Oh…" She trailed off.

Someone quietly knocked on the door jam and we both turned around to see Sgt. Stevens from earlier. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're picking up movement outside the sector." He paused. "That and Dr. Curtis wishes to see you, sir." He said, before leaving us alone.

I got and nodded, holding Emily's hand tightly. She looked between me and the guard wearingly before we left the room. Stevens led us to the locked door from earlier and knocked.

The door quickly opened and a guard stood in the way, in full riot gear. "How can I help you?" He asked.

"Ash, Curtis requested the marine that entered." Stevens said, motioning at me. Ash turned and looked, briefly nodded.

"Understood." He looked at Emily. "I'm afraid I can't let you in, Dr. Curtis only wished to see the marine."

"I know…" She said, giving me a hug. "Be careful." She whispered.

"I will." I whispered back, handing her the locket. She smiled as she clasped it around her neck, the metal shining in the light. "See you later." I said, following Ash into the room.

As soon as I entered, the door immediately shut and locked, stopping any chance I had at escaping.

"Right this way sir." Ash said, leading me down a simple flight of stairs, the lights flickering on and off. "Sorry about the lighting, the backup generator is running low on fuel." He said casually.

"How much longer will that last?"

"If my calculations are correct, another five and a half hours." He said, standing outside a solid metal door. He pulled a card from breast pocket and swiped it in the reader, the door opening with a hiss. Icy air poured out of the room and I shivered, following him inside. Just like before, the door immediately shut behind us.

The room was huge, encased in cylindrical tubes full of bubbling liquid. A few of the tubes held that creature that we found with the skeletal fingers and long tail. They all had the tube sticking out of its mouth. A large table took up most of the floor and what laid on it stopped me in my tracks. On the table… was one of those monsters, dead. A lone man was digging around the body, his black poufy hair noticeably grayer than the picture.

"Sir, the marine is here as you requested." Ash said, standing at attention.

Michael Curtis sighed, putting down the scalpel and looked up, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. "Welcome marine, to Paradise Lost."


End file.
